Should I add and amp or or powered sub?

I've got a new TRD Sport DC coming soon. I'm told the factory build date is March 5th so I will forever know it's birthday.

Soon after taking delivery, I plan to add sound deadener to the doors and roof. I'll also be pulling out the stock tunes and putting in a Pioneer AVH-4400BT head unit, a pair of Polk DXi6500 component speakers up front and DXi650's in the back. They don't appear to be too terribly power hungy so I expect it won't be necessary to add an amp. The 6500's have an RMS power range of 10-100 watts and the 650's are only 6-55 watts.

I'm debating whether to put in a small 50-75 watt 4 channel amp or possibly a powered underseat subwoofer. If I was to add only one of those two, which do you guys think would provide the greatest improvement to the overall system?

Generally, I don't crank up the volume too terribly loud, but I do appreciate high fidelity sound. I wonder if a little underseat subs will help to fill out the range of the system or if there is more advantage in adding a small amp. In terms of cost, it looks like both will cost about $350. Any recommendations or thoughts would be appreciated.

 

I was in the same boat on my 05 Double Cab. I looked at some of the self powered small enclosure subs and actually listened to a couple at a dealer and was less than impressed. They really are not going to do much to enhance your bass. I chose to remove the rear moldings and install a sub box with a 10 inch Boss audio Diablo Sub and 2 amps, 1 for the fronts and bridged sub, and one for the rear doors and I'm very glad I decided to do this instead of a self enclosed hideaway sub.

 

If it were me, I'd wait until I installed the HU and speakers and try them out for a few weeks first, then decide if you want to upgrade the sound or if you're happy where you're at. Everyone's ears are different and what is sufficient for one is not for another. I'm also usually pretty surprised at the amount and quality of sound that you can get from just HU power anymore. Ear numbing and mirror shaking,,, no, but more than sufficient for most listening.

Don't forget to seal up the doors and make sure you know the difference between vibration dampening and sound deadening so you can apply 'em appropriately..

 

Ideally, I'd like take care of everything at once. That way, I can make sure the speakers are well matched to the amp or lack of one. Also, if I put in the amp as a kind of stage two project, wouldn't I need to run speaker wire twice?

 

I put a kenwood puwered underseat sub in my regular cab. It fits nicely under my side of the bench seat. It provides nice bass for as loud as I can sing. Louder, and it can't handle it.
The double cab might require something larger, or two of them. IIRC, there is a sub enclosure made that fits behind your back seat.

 

Your call. Your OP sounded like you weren't sure what you really wanted. I always tend to do the minimums if I'm not sure and add stuff later as the $$$ and desire present themselves.

As for the speaker wires, you'd need to move the speaker wires from the HU area to the amp location, assuming you are running new wires to the doors. If you choose to go just the HU and speakers I'd consider just using the stock speaker wires thru the HU harness. I actually used the stock wires with a 60W/channel amp for quite some time. Didn't notice any changes between that and new speaker wires after one of my upgrade steps.

BTW if you are interested I upgraded my Rockford T400-4 amp to a Kenwood XR-5S. I'd be willing to make a deal on the Rockford, I just haven't had the time to take some pics and throw it onto the 4sale section yet. PM me if so.

 

This got me thinking... Let's assume I hold off on adding an amp until after listening to the new HU and speakers. Wouldn't it be a good idea to run new speaker wires, but leave them long enough to reach under the seat where I would potentially be placing an amp? That way, it would be safe to do a thorough job acoustically treating the doors without the worry of tearing into it all to add new speaker wires if I get around to adding an amp. Is it safe to assume there is enough room behind the dash to stash all the excess speaker wire?

 

Certainly a good idea. Not that much more expense to add a few feet to each run. Keep in mind that you can also splice speaker wire together for additional length. As for space, there is enough room in the dash area, might need to use the space above the footwells instead of behind the HU though, depends on the HU.